Spiderbands didn’t last, but 305 Fitness, another (better-funded) fitness chain is taking up residence on the ground floor of 14th St. Here’s hoping they keep the volume down.

Coffee Shop, and its neon signage, are gone. Here comes Chase Bank.

Gothamist reports:

A cereal saloon? In Union Square?? In this economy??? Not anymore, I’m afraid: The Kellogg’s NYC cafe, a large windowed box where tourists could pay too much to eat cereal suspended in midair, has closed. “Closed abruptly,” according to Eater, its empty husk reimagined as a holiday pop-up slinging fancy donuts.
The Kellogg’s NYC website confirms the closure: “We are sincerely thankful for the support of all our great guests of this unique cereal experience,” it screams in all caps. “While Kellogg is busy creating the next adventure, the Union Square Space will be open as a White Box space through our partner Co.Create NYC for events.”

If, in turn, you were wondering what a White Box space is, here’s some start-up word salad for you to digest: “The White Box is where brainstorms become brand activations, product innovations become pop-ups, fever dreams become private parties.” (On which most of Union Square would theoretically be able to spy, considering the whole storefront is glass.)

In June of 2016, Kellogg’s NYC opened its first cereal cafe in Times Square, offering tourists bowls of refined carbohydrates for the totally-reasonable-what-do-you-mean price of $6 to $8. The menu had been enhanced by Christina Tosi of Momofuku Milk Bar, possibly to justify the price, I guess? Anyway, the venture’s perhaps improbable success prompted a move to a bigger space overlooking Union Square in 2017, a boom year for Instagrammable cereal, for whatever reason. Located at 31 East 17th Street, the new digs were more than five times bigger than the old ones, according to Eater. Kellogg’s dropped prices — $1.50 for your basic bowl of Frosted Flakes (a family-sized box of which currently costs $3.79 at Target) or Special K; $4 for a jazzed-up bowl with toppings — but this more affordable fare does not appear to have done the trick.

Kellogg’s NYC did not address Gothamist’s questions about the reason for the departure, so we can’t say for sure what prompted the closure. Still, a slew of better-established businesses have vacated the neighborhood in recent months and years, typically citing rents rising at wildly unrealistic rates. Coffee Shop shuttered in October 2018, to be replaced by a Chase Bank and by CHLOE. In January, Blue Water Grill closed its doors, a spokesperson for its owner (an actual billionaire) explaining, “Even though this is one of New York’s most successful restaurants, it can’t be successful with a $2 million plus rent.” In 2017, popular eatery Republic announced its impending relocation, due to the mounting financial burden of a Union Square lease, and in 2015, Danny Meyer explained that he had to move his Union Square Cafe because of “untenable rent escalations.”

Meanwhile, demand for Kellogg’s product has reportedly been waning across the board. Without knowing exactly how much it costs to rent a centrally located sky lounge, one designated specifically for the consumption of Frosted Mini Wheats and their ilk, it’s hard to guess at the overhead Kellogg’s NYC faced. It seems reasonable to expect, though, that the rent would be high — too high, even, for Big Cereal to justify?!?! What have we come to??

But take heart, my Froot Loops, because a statement from Kellogg’s suggests the brand isn’t done with you yet:

We have been lucky to have wonderful support from cereal fans and media alike. We are committed to continuing to bring more unique and engaging experiences to Kellogg’s cereal fans in the future. Kellogg has loyal, passionate fans that constantly seek the chance to interact with our iconic brands. We believe this includes in-person experiences that push the imagination and provide unexpected opportunities to experience cereal, something they’ve been connected to their entire lives, in a completely new way. That was our belief when we opened the first café and fans have responded positively and asked for more ever since. Stay tuned for updates on our next chapter!

The New York Times reports on the new busway and the potentially positive effect it has on real estate prices, although it seems certain not everyone would agree.

Forever 21, on the corner of University and 14th St., has shuttered. It’s a prime location, and it will be interesting to see what shows up next.

This excellent article reviews many of the historic buildings that help define our neighborhood. Of course, many are endangered.

It’s hard to run a business in Manhattan. So hard, in fact, that even the beloved City Bakery couldn’t survive.

As construction for the Union Square tech hub begins, Greenwich Village preservationists have resurrected their call for the city to designate a new historic district in the area, AM New York first reported.

Last October, following a contested upzoning of a lot on 14th Street to build the 21-story training center, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) asked the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) to consider designating a new historic district to protect 193 buildings in the area.

Over the summer, the LPC moved to designate seven of those buildings, but rejected the call for a full historic district. At the time, the LPC said that the area mostly contains buildings erected between the 1830s and 1930s, as well as new and altered ones, and that because of their variety in styles, types, and dates, “[the area] lacks the consistent architectural quality, cohesiveness, and sense of place necessary to merit historic district designation.”

But GVSHP is persistent, and this week resurrected its call for a proper district protecting more buildings in the area. In a letter sent to LPC this week, the group made the case for protecting 10 buildings, including 10 East 14th Street, a cast-iron structure that once housed the NYC Woman Suffrage League headquarters; 72 Fifth Avenue, a masonry structure that was the headquarters of Appleton & Company; and 17 East 13th Street, the brick Erskine Press building. The selection of buildings also includes structures associated with 19th-century architect James Renwick Jr.

“[These buildings] speak to the incredibly rich and important social and architectural history of the area, and to New York’s development as the capital of commerce and culture in the late 19th and 20th centuries,” the letter from GVSHP reads.

“With increased pressure on the area from the beginning of construction on the 14th Street Tech Hub, the recent loss of Renwick’s St. Denis Hotel (1855), and the completion of the woefully out of scale tech office tower at 808 Broadway, the time for the city to act is now,” Andrew Berman, executive director of GVSHP, told Curbed in a statement.

The group is also pushing for city lawmakers to implement protections that would regulate commercial development south of 14th Street through a “protective zoning measure,” which was promised at the time of the tech hub rezoning over a year ago.

City Council member Carlina Rivera, who represents the area, negotiated those commitments from the de Blasio administration, but advocates have said those promises hadn’t materialized.

“Councilwoman Rivera continues to work with the community to ensure the history of the Village is preserved and she is meeting regularly with LPC to discuss future protections for her entire district that should be considered,” Jeremy Unger, a spokesperson for Rivera, said in a statement.

This time it’s for real. Maybe. On Thursday, the 14th St. Busway will go live, bringing with it an unknown amount of change and perhaps chaos the neighborhood. Once it’s in effect, the Busway will mean that the only way to get crosstown westbound without interruption will be on 13th St. since neither 11th St. nor 15th St. cut across town uninterrupted. Will 13th St. become a nightmare? We shall soon see.

Basics Hardware is gone. University Place is changing quickly.